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In 2010 and 2011 a series of earthquakes hit the central region of Canterbury,
New Zealand, triggering widespread and damaging liquefaction in the area of
Christchurch. Liquefaction occurred in natural clean sand deposits, but also in
silty (fines-containing) sand deposits of fluvial origin. Comprehensive research
efforts have been subsequently undertaken to identify key factors that influenced
liquefaction triggering and severity of its manifestation.
This research aims at evaluating the effects of fines content, fabric and layered
structure on the cyclic undrained response of silty soils from Christchurch using
Direct Simple Shear (DSS) tests. This poster outlines preliminary calibration and
verification DSS tests performed on a clean sand to ensure reliability of testing
procedures before these are applied to Christchurch soils.